ADS completes eighth purchase of 2018

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—ADS Security, a regional electronic security and automation company based here, recently acquired the customer accounts of A-Sonic Guard Inc. in Louisville, Ky. This is the eighth acquisition for ADS in 2018.

In September, ADS bought Mid America Security Systems, the company's first purchase in the Louisville market. John Cerasuolo, president and CEO of ADS, told Security Systems News that this is typical of the company's strategy, to purchase a platform in a new market and add on to that with additional acquisitions.

Asked about the quick succession of the Mid America deal followed by the A-Sonic purchase, Cerasuolo said that ADS didn't expect an expansion to the Louisville market so soon, but it's not a surprise. “It's generally the case, in all of the platform deals we do, that over the following couple of years we do a few fold-in acquisitions,” he said.

Before the Mid America and A-Sonic purchases, ADS' presence in Kentucky was centered around the southern border of the state, near some of its Tennessee locations, and Paduca, Ky. Both of the recent Louisville deals signal ADS' “first significant push into the major markets in Kentucky, which—obviously—we're very excited about,” Cerasuolo said.

The A-Sonic Guard deal increases ADS' presence in Louisville, with most of A-Sonic's accounts being commercial. ADS will service these new customer accounts out of its Louisville office, located at 3900 Classified Place, Louisville, KY 40218. Three employees from A-Sonic will be joining the Louisville branch as well.

Looking ahead, Cerasuolo has a positive outlook for the upcoming year. “We have very high expectations for 2019. We've got a good number of deals that are in various stages along the process. So, we expect to come out of the gate pretty strong in 2019, in terms and acquisitions,” he said. “There's no reason not to expect that we'll have similar kind of results in [2019] that we had this year.”